The industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio bands were originally reserved for industrial, scientific and medical purposes other than telecommunications, such as microwave ovens, which operate in the 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) radio band. Over time, as congestion of the radio spectrum has increased and communication technology has evolved, these ISM bands have been appropriated for wireless data communication, such as wireless fidelity (WiFi) communication. In fact, an entire industry has been created around consumer-grade WiFi devices, which use the same 2.4 GHz band used by microwave ovens to wirelessly transmit data over wireless local area networks (WLANs). For example, hands-free, speech interface devices that use voice assistant technology to access various cloud-based services (e.g., music streaming services, smart home control services, etc.) use the 2.4 GHz band for wireless data communication.
The coexistence of wireless communication devices and microwave ovens on the same 2.4 GHz radio band creates a problem in the common household where a microwave oven is often a staple of the kitchen. Specifically, whenever the microwave oven is running (e.g., cooking food), the energy emissions from the microwave oven create electromagnetic interference, which disrupts radio communication of nearby wireless communication devices that use the same frequency band to wirelessly transmit data, causing data transfer failures due to dropped packets. Today, microwave interference is tolerated, and, as a result, wireless communication devices do not function properly in the presence of microwave interference.
Provided herein are technical solutions to improve and enhance these and other systems.